it's only a haircut...

it just seemed like a much bigger deal!

to help you understand what i mean, you need to know that my two boys, five and two, have always had long hair. not like over the shoulder, mullet, or 80's rock star, just longer than most little boys. they have basically just had a bowl cut forever. you know, the hair looks like a brown bowl sitting on their heads. just above the eyes, covering the ears, and tilting back toward the shirt collar.

anyway, they both have such beautiful hair, it was fun to have lots of it to show. especially the two-year-old. he is blonde. the rest of us are varying shades of dark brown! we have a lot of great pictures of them jumping, or hanging upside down, etc. that really show the length!

we've talked several times about shortening it. particularly now that #1 is in kindergarten. we just haven't been able to bring ourselves to do it, because they're so cute! it is so fun to watch as they run and jump aroung.

anyway, kindergartener told mom he wanted his hair cut short, like daddy's. (daddy only has short hair because of the dress code at his job!) so we've spent the last day or two getting used to the idea, and realizing that he will be cute regardless. he will certainly fit in with his classmates more!

i don't know how much my longing for former days of longer locks play into it, but i still didn't like the idea. the hair is one of the most unique things about my boys. we get comments all the time about it. (almost always positive. grandma doesn't care for it, and he did recently get mistaken for a girl...) ok, maybe it is time to let this phase pass. after all, he will be six in a couple of months!

well i'd completely fogotten about this conversation at work, so imagine my surprise when five comes running to meet me when i got home from work! he looks so cute. so different! so much older... i knew i would miss his long hair, but i also knew how cute it would be to have this little schoolboy haircut too. it was a lot of fun.

but that's not the end of the story. i hear the clippers going, and come around the corner to see the finishing touches being put on two's haircut. oh no! not him too! we hadn't talked about that! i wasn't prepared! his hair was so much softer, blonder, and more beautiful! now it was all on the floor, and what was left was brown! i had to stifle a sob in my throat!

i was quickly distracted, however, by the hair on the floor. not just the amount, but the length of the trimmings! there was hair cut from five's head that was seriously six inches long! (and he's not bald, by any stretch!) that and the two distinct colors.

it will certainly take some getting used to. now that the initial shock is past, it will just be coming home from work the next few days, and going, "whoa, who are you?" don't get me wrong, they don't look bad. they are definitely still my wild boys. it seems pretty silly to get hung up on something like this. plus, it is kind of fun. i mean they're really cute, and now you can see their faces better. (oddly enough the same haircut made five's head look smaller, and two's look bigger...)